[Index]
The UNECE is on the way to establishing a new
Team of Specialists
on Quality Management Systems
Geneva, 12 February 2002
On 13 February 2002, the United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE) will organize an Expert Meeting on Quality Management Systems
(QMS) at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The proposal to establish the Team of
Specialists on QMS was made at the Expert Meeting on "Creation of Quality
Assurance Systems for Enhancing Competitiveness of SMEs" held on 24-25
October 2001 at the Palais des Nations.
Quality control, assurance and management systems,
accreditation and certification, quality marks and labels, standardization,
metrology, etc. are often considered as technical barriers to trade, especially
in the context of international competitiveness and globalization. The United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe organizes forums to discuss issues
relating to the facilitation of trade and investment, and economic cooperation
and integration.
Quality is considered as a basic pillar in industrial
restructuring and a main element in screening candidate countries' economic
performance and progress toward the accession to the European Community. Quality
is a main performance to meet the requirements of the globalization and to step
over the world trade barriers. Enterprises without a certified Quality
Management System are not able to enter the world market.
The Expert Meeting on QMS will agree on the Terms of
Reference for the establishment of a new Team of Specialists, which intends to
aim at assisting governments and enterprises to the ECE region in the
implementation of quality management systems in order to increase the
competitiveness of enterprises in their countries. To this end, the Team of
Specialists will
examine the best practices of national policies for
promoting quality assurance systems in the ECE region and organize the
exchange of information and experience between governments, the business
community and civil society;
collect information on national quality awards schemes
and excellence quality models implemented in the UNECE region;
raise quality awareness through implementation of
quality excellence models in countries in transition in order to
accelerate the participation of the enterprises in these countries in the
European Quality Award scheme;
promote the creation of quality development centres to
enhance Total Quality Management in countries in the UNECE region;
create a web site within the framework of the UNECE
web-system in cooperation with the participating specialists in order to
promote quality awareness amongst the member States of the Commission.
It is envisaged to launch a number of special projects: (i)
Adaptation of an interactive CD-ROM for ecological assessment of enterprises in
accordance with the ISO 14,000 standard requirement leaded by French experts;
(ii) Creation of a Russian Total Quality Management Centre under the umbrella of
UNECE & UNEP under the management of the Committee on Sustainable Ecology,
the Chamber of Trade and Industry and LUKOIL company; (iii) Benchmarking of
"Excellent Quality Modeling – Comparison of national quality award
schemes" with a team of experts from Austria, Hungary, Sweden and
Switzerland, etc.
Participation in the activities of the Team of Specialists on
QMS is open to all Governments, private sector representatives, academic
experts, quality oriented NGOs, who are willing to contribute to its objectives.
Experts and high-level policy-makers, academicians from 21
countries and 7 international organizations registered for this meeting.
Moreover, experts from India, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have expressed their
desire to contribute to the success of this Team via teleworking.
For further information please contact:
Antal Szabó
Regional Adviser on Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Coordinating Unit for Operational Activities
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations, Office 440
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: + 41(0)22 917 24 71
Telefax: + 41(0)22 917 01 78
E-mail: [email protected]
Ref: ECE/OPA/02/04